Maps
by epiphanywriter
Summary: Ephram leaves a completely different life back in New York; and now, it comes back for him


Title: Maps

Warnings: curse words? (does that even count as one???…)

Summary: 

Disclaimer(s): (I) I don't own Everwood or any of the characters affiliated with it…Greg Berlanti and Mickey Liddell do (but I wouldn't mind sharing…)

(II) I do own Adrien and no, I didn't spell her name wrong, I have a reason for not making it Adrienne….

(III) Gameboy Advance is with the owners of Nintendo and Ghost in the Shell and Hellsing are to those wonderful Japanese guys who keep my mind at trivial.

(IV) One of the segments of dialogue were mainly the contributed from 'Camp' (a great indie film…) so with a little imagination and some different names that's where all that came from. 

(V) And lastly, I don't own the song which is put in _italics_, full copyright and all that jazz belongs to the New York group, _Yeah Yeah Yeahs _and its entitled, _Maps_ (thus, the title of this story).

*&*

Pack up

I've strayed

Enough 

Oh, say say say 

Oh, say say say 

"You don't have to help me pack…" Ephram said pulling out various _Ghost in the Shell _and _Hellsing _shirts from his dresser drawer and tossing them onto his stripped bed. There, they would have sat crumpled for days if it was up to him - _but it isn't and the world is fucked up_.

"It's okay," Adrien said simply, taking yet another black crumble and folding it neatly just before stacking it into his duffle bag. "I mean, I want to." she explains, almost in a whisper, staring out the stormy window - _and I want you to stay but you don't _. 

*&*

__

Wait, they don't love you like I love you 

Wait, they don't love you like I love you

Ma-a-a-a-ps, wait! 

They don't love you like I love you 

"Adrien! Please, open the door!" Ephram shouted, banging his fists on the oak wood door. He was worried about her. The tables were flipped. Pressing an ear against her door, he heard silence and feared for the worst. He'd seen the long, horizontal lines that distinguished her wrists. He'd looked it up on the Internet. And he'd even heard what caused them. 

*&*

__

Made off 

Don't stray

My kind's your kind

I'll stay the same 

"Feet," Ephram said, finally finding Adrien, sitting in the middle of the auditorium by herself. She picked her knees up and clung them tightly to her chest.

"You know, my life is so fucked up?" she said almost with uncertainty, wiping her eyes dry with her hand. 

"You wanna compare?" Ephram said absentmindedly.

"Yeah…..I have one part from Column A and another from Column Shit. You _had_ an older brother, an older sister, and parents but now your left with only Noah who insists on leaving the country every other moon cycle to go to some far off country. They're like flies and the bug zapper in the middle of summer. So, you've been stuck in a hospital and they diagnose you as so many things that you have to take pills for. Different doctors, different pills, different housing situations. Nothings a constant…" she said, laughing sadly at her own joke. 

"Well then, try this. Your dad is the world's best neurosurgeon who decides to go senile and buys a house in some shitty town in Colorado - without telling you until the last minute. Your mom is dead. Your sister decides to start wearing your old clothes. And to top it off : three, four, three, four. Four, three two, three, six, four, twelve, three, seven, two, two, six, three, three, one, five, two, four, six, four, two, eight - seven, six, three, five, three, four, six. Four, three, two, four. Four, six, seven, two, five, seven, four, three. Three, two, three, two, three. It's an OCD. Three, two, three." Ephram said starring at his hands. "Life goal, sleeping pills and a six pack of _Red Bull_.

"Okay, I take that back, my life isn't as fucked up as it was an hour ago. But, I know something now." Adrien said looking over at Ephram.

"What? That you've gotta get new friends?" Ephram said jokingly.

"Try that we'll stay together until the end and maybe something is a constant," Adrien said, their lips meeting on the last syllable.

*&*

__

Pack up

Don't stray 

Oh, say say say 

Oh, say say say 

Wait! they don't love you like I love you

Wait! they don't love you like I love you 

Ma-a-a-aps, wait! 

They don't love you like I love you

"So this is bye but not goodbye, right?" Adrien said raising an eyebrow and Ephram.

"Goodbyes are forever." he said, shifting the weight of his duffle bag and then balancing himself on the sides of his feet. It was something that they had talked over continuously, debating whether they'd be one or the other. It made him nervous just thinking about it, let alone talking about it once again just before he left.

"Ephram, hurry up, we're gonna miss our flight!" Andy shouted at the two. He had gotten Delia finally situated in the taxi with enough Gameboy Advance games and batteries to last at least a year on a deserted island.

"Alright Dad," he said, keeping his voice from dripping with sarcasm. They'd been on good terms - so far. 

"Well then, Ephram Brown, I guess this is goodbye." Adrien said into the crook of his neck as they embraced sadly. New York to Colorado was a long distance.

"Yeah, this is goodbye." Ephram said sadly as he kissed the top of her forehead and got into the taxi.


End file.
